Pornography Tycoon Succumbs to Cancer

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Pornography tycoon Bob Guccione passed away at a Plano hospital, after a long battle with cancer. He and his wife relocated from New Jersey to North Texas last year so Guccione could receive treatment for cancer. He came to international fame as publisher of Penthouse, a sex magazine he founded in the 1960s to compete with the better known Playboy. Penthouse was more explicitly pornographic, with tabloid style articles aimed more at, in Guccione’s phrase, “…regular guys.” At first, he was fabulously successful and in 1982 was listed on the Forbes 400 ranking of the world’s wealthiest people. But, Guccione’s business empire collapsed after some bad investments and technological changes in the pornography industry, shitfting from print and video-tapes to the Internet. Guccione was being treated for cancer at Plano Specialty Hospital where he died yesterday at the age of 79. His wife says he’s been battling lung cancer for several years.